Flash Question

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evilmonkey
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Flash Question

Post by evilmonkey »

Wow, I would've never thought I'd have to ask for flash help on these forums. In fact, I never thought I'd have to use flash. Anyway.

I'm maintaining a small school science department website that some guy before me though would be fun to make entirely in flash. Great idea, genius, the only problem is, this kid didn't leave us the .fla file, only the .swf. That was pretty frustrating, but I got around that by poking on the internet a little. Basically, I converted the .swf to a .fla. Now the editing kicks in.

The way this works is that it has links to different "pages" within the flash document. My problem is, I can only see the first such page (the one originally seen by the user when he access the site). My question is, how can I see all the other "pages"? It's that cntent that I need to edit.

Thanks for your time!
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

they should be scenes or potentially clips in its libraries.. iirc..

although I'm not sure how this "tool" you found does that conversion correctly..

at any rate, there should be links of a sort (jump commands, or some actionscript that controls the linking)
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

They're not scenes because flash tells me there's only one scene. How would I find these clips?

The conversion tool did everything correctly because I recomplied the movie using Flash MX, and got the same as the original. My guess is everything is fine...
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

open the library panel.. should be in there.. if they are clips..
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neophyte
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I'm a flasher

Post by neophyte »

Click on window -> movie explorer. Use the control panel to see all the scripts that on running and movie clips. Check out the timeline. Double click on objects to edit movie clips and buttons...

Good luck
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

Hmm nothing. Same one page. In the library, I did find some images that were for other pages (not visible on the front page), but I couldn't find the text I need to update. Movie Explorer only shows me the properties of that first "page", as does the timelines...

I feel like I'm going in circles...
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Well.. that taps out my memory of Flash.. it's been 4-5 years since I last used it 8O
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

BLAST! Anyone else? PLEASEEE???

Thanks for the effort feyd. :)
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neophyte
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A few more tips

Post by neophyte »

Okay you say you see the "first page" are you sure there are not any more .swf files because some flash movies work by loading external content into the movie.

Did you try double clicking on objects on the stage?

How many key frames on the main time line -- grey squares with black dots? One, two, butt loads?

Are there any "A"'s on the key frames?

Hit f9 and check for action scripting on various objects...
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

Hi noephyte. There is one key fram, but there are a few more grey squares with no black dots (5 or so). The flash starts with the loading screent (actionscript, I guess), then goes to the main page. I am sure this is the only swf file because once i compile it in flash, all the other pages are there. No A's on key frames, although there are A's around it. Nothing special though. I tried clicking F9 on the link that should take me to another page, but that displayed an error saying "actions cannot be applied to current selection".

Is there anything else I can do?
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neophyte
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Post by neophyte »

I tried clicking F9 on the link that should take me to another page, but that displayed an error saying "actions cannot be applied to current selection".
Hit f9 that should open a window where you can enter action script. Okay with the window open click on various objects on the stage. If scripts are applied to say a button/link then they will show up there. Or you could also click on a keyframe in the timeline that has an "a" in it. The action script will apear in the script panel you opened with f9.

But the problem is that you want to find some spot to change content. Is the thing up online? Can you post a link?

It sounds like the bulk of the site is in embedded movie clips. Try double click on objects. This should take you into different layers. Look at the timeline. You'll see a string like this "object1->object2->object3 etc...
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Post by zenabi »

I'm guessing that your swf to fla conversion didn't work the way you wanted. To my knowledge you can't get the full fla from an swf. (If anyone knows any different please correct me)

You will have to track down the guy for the original fla or build a new one from scratch.

Sorry I cannot be of any more help, but I could be saving you a few headaches.
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

The thing is online, it's at http://www.vaughanss.on.ca/science/. I need to update the "Staff" page, but all I can see is the main page (the one that appears after the running guy).

Zenabi, if what you're saying is true, it'll be a big b*tch for me to redo the whole site, I'd rather just keep it the way it is...
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neophyte
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It's down to this...

Post by neophyte »

Okay, Double clicking in flash on any of the button object ought to give you some action script in the scripting window. If it doesn't I'm with zenabi, you'll probably have to find it or re-do it.

I downloaded it and "imported it." If thats what you did to edit it give it up. There are some companies that sell flash decompilers. Do a google search on decompile flash. Best route yet, have the original .fla.
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evilmonkey
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Post by evilmonkey »

No no, I used a commercial decompiler (http://www.sothink.com/flashdecompiler/index.htm, I have access to the full version of that software thanks to my school.), and got the fla file, I didn't just import. Double clicking for me just edits text, doesn't do much else.
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